Sealing members are well known as typically provided between two components to seal a juncture between the components. One example of use of a sealing member is in the context of a unitized body of an automobile. Components that are to be bolted to the body from the underside of the body requires sealing such that no environment such as water, air or exhaust gases may leak into the passenger compartment.
An automotive sealing fastener component is known useful, for example, to secure seating frames to the sheet metal floor of a passenger compartment in a unitized automotive body. This fastening component comprises a plate of metal with an opening therethrough and a metal stud extending through the opening with a head of the stud welded to a first, lower surface of the plate and extending through the plate opening to extend beyond a second upper surface of the plate. The fastening component is provided to be located underneath the sheet metal floor of the body with the stud to extend upwardly through an aperture in the floor to be engaged by a free nut to draw the fastening component upwardly. A sealing washer is secured to the second upper surface of the plate about the stud so as to become sandwiched between the plate and the floor and thereby provide a seal.
One known multi step method for manufacturing such seating fastening component involves one step of welding the stud to the plate and another, separate step of applying the sealing washer and securing the sealing washer to the plate. One known sealing washer used has an adhesive on one side of the washer such that by removal of the washer from a release sheet carrier, the washer may be located over the stud and adhered to the second surface of the plate. Such self-adhering sealing washers suffer the disadvantage that the sealing washer is relatively expensive to manufacture. A further disadvantage is that the metal plate frequently carries a film of oil on its surface which prevents the adhesive from securely bonding the washer to the metal plate or requires additional processing to remove the oil. Other disadvantages are the high labour costs to manually apply the seals and the high costs of automation.
Another known sealing washer used with the known multi step method is a washer which is applied onto the second surface of the plate and then heated with the metal component by an induction heater. The induction heater heats the metal component to a temperature such that a surface of the washer in contact with the metal component melts to become adhered to the metal component. During heating, pressure may be applied to urge the washer into the plate. Such method suffers the disadvantage that time and energy are consumed in heating the component. A further disadvantage is that heating of the metal component is not always consistent and improper heating and poor adhesion can arise.
Previously known methods for sealing the washers to the metal component and the washers used therewith have been appreciated by the applicant as having the substantial disadvantage as involving a separate step from that of welding the fastener stud to the metal plate.